Why Statistics?

• What is the primary focus of the study material?

  The relevance of statistics in research and the real world
• What are the learning outcomes of the study material?

  • Understanding the relevance of statistics in various fields
  • Developing subject-specific skills in statistics
  • Gaining transferable skills applicable to future careers
  • Learning the core steps in conducting research
  • Recognizing the misuse of statistics in historical and contemporary contexts
• What is one area of psychology where statistics are relevant?

  Developmental psychology
• Name a specific topic within developmental psychology that statistics can help analyze.

  Child development
• Which psychological field studies memory and attention?

  Cognitive psychology
• What does biological psychology focus on?

  Brain structures and sleep patterns
• What is a topic studied in social psychology?

  Prejudice
• What does the BPS Society Benchmark Statement (2019) relate to?

  Subject-specific skills of statistics
• What is one subject-specific skill of statistics?

  To identify and evaluate patterns in behavior
• How can statistics be used in analyzing data?

  By analyzing and presenting quantitative and qualitative data
• What is a transferable skill gained from studying statistics?

  Effective communication
• Why is numerical reasoning important in statistics?

  It helps in interpreting and analyzing data accurately
• What is one career that benefits from statistical skills?

  Market research
• What is the first core step in conducting research?

  Research question
• What is the purpose of empirical methods in psychology?

  To test theories based on evidence
• What makes a good scientific theory?

  It is supported by data
• What does it mean for a theory to be falsifiable?

  It can be proven wrong through evidence
• What is Occam's Razor in the context of scientific theories?

  The simplest solution is usually the best
• What are the stages of research once a theory is gathered?

  1. Research question
  2. Theory
  3. Generate hypotheses
  4. Design a study
  5. Ethical approval
  6. Collect data
  7. Analyze data
  8. Write your study up as a research report
• What are descriptive statistics used for?

  To summarize data graphically and numerically
• What is the purpose of inferential statistics?

  To test a hypothesis and make inferences about a population
• What is one benefit of using statistics?

  It advances scientific understanding
• What are the three lies in statistics?

  Lies, damned lies, and statistics
• How can statistics be distorted or exaggerated?

  By politicians and news outlets to mislead others
• What is one historical misuse of statistics?

  Scientific racism
• What did Samuel Morton suggest about racial differences?

  He suggested racial differences in cranial size to justify a racial intelligence theory
• What was argued about Morton's results?

  They were misleading due to data collection issues
• What was a flaw in Morton's methodology?

  He didn’t separate gender in his samples
• What did Morton’s raw data reveal about his summary tables?

  They were based on a patchwork of apparently unconscious finagling
• What is one way to avoid misusing statistics?

  Acknowledge past misuses of statistics
• How should one approach media reports on statistics?

  With a questioning mind to assess data representation
• Who is Karl Pearson?

  Founder of correlations, chi-squares, and p-values
• What did the Human Genome Project suggest about human beings?

  That humans are 99.9% identical
• What is one modern example of scientific racism?

  The suggestion that genetic differences via race could explain differences in coronary heart disease prevalence
• How should race be viewed in research?

  As a sociopolitical construct rather than a biological difference
• What did adjustments for social demographics reveal about Covid mortality by ethnicity in the UK?

  Any differences were small and possibly non-significant
• What is one modern misuse of statistics in advertising?

  Misleading claims about dentist recommendations for Colgate
• What does the phrase "correlation does not imply causation" mean?

  Just because two variables are correlated does not mean one causes the other
• What is a common issue with graph labeling in statistics?

  No x-axis label or incorrect chronological order
• Why is it important to learn how to conduct research correctly?

  To apply appropriate practices to our own work